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''Berserker'' is the eighth studio album, and sixth under his own name, by musician Gary Numan, released in 1984. It was his first album to be released under Numan's own record label, Numa Records. ==Overview== Numan's contract with his previous record label Beggars Banquet had ended with the release of ''Warriors'', and disillusioned with record companies, Numan decided to create his own record label, Numa Records, in order to give himself full control over his recordings, production work and marketing. Freed from demands of an outside record company, Numan could take the music on his new album into a new and harder direction. The album was named after a series of science-fiction novels by Fred Saberhagen, which Numan had read at school.〔''Praying to the Aliens: An Autobiography'' by Gary Numan with Steve Malins. (1997, André Deutsch Limited), p.194〕 For the album itself, Numan was concerned with creating a distinct atmosphere: ''Berserker'' was far removed from the electro-funk stylings of ''Warriors'' (and, indeed, the fluid, fretless bass stylings of Numan's previous three albums), instead presenting a more hard rock-like sound, combined with an abundant use of sampling. Heavy-metal-like riffs and guitar sounds were a lot more aggressive than on the preceding albums, and the electric bass contrasted with the heavy guitar sound. Numan also decided to use sound as a percussion, in lieu of conventional percussive instruments. The distinctive sound of the PPG Wave synthesiser was introduced on this album, developing memorable synth riffs; the dream-like female backing vocals were still fully embraced from ''Warriors''. Saxophones were infrequently used on the album, along with the viola that had last been featured on ''Telekon.'' Lyrically, the album has a haunting, oppressive theme with several references to God throughout. The poignant track "A Child with the Ghost" was Numan's tribute to his friend and former bassist Paul Gardiner, who died in February 1984 from a deliberate heroin overdose. The Industrial undertones of the album would be more fully explored on Numan's follow-up album, ''The Fury'' (1985). For the visual look of the new album, Numan wanted something completely different from the black jumpsuits, grey coats, and black leather that had formed his visual look up until that that point. Instead he appeared on the cover of the new album (and during the subsequent tour) as a white-skinned, white-clad "Iceman" with blue makeup and hair, resulting in one of the most striking looks of his career. The title track was released as a single in October 1984, a month ahead of the album, but it only made it to #32 on the UK charts, making it his worst-charting single yet alongside "Sister Surprise" from the preceding album ''Warriors''. The album itself was released in November 1984, but only managed a lowly #45 in the UK charts, making it both Numan's lowest-charting album by that point and his first album to miss the UK top 30. In chart terms, ''Berserker'' was outperformed by ''The Plan'', an album of early Numan material released by his former record label Beggars Banquet in September 1984 that reached #29. "My Dying Machine" was released as the second and final single off ''Berserker'' in December of the same year and peaked at #66. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Berserker (Gary Numan album)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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